Daniel Cormier’s Longtime Coach is on Board if “DC” Postpones Retirement

For a little while now, DanaWhite’s been saying that he believes Daniel Cormier has several fights left in him yet, and increasingly it’s looking like we’re going to see “DC” compete a few more times. Further, it doesn’t look like Cormier’s going to face any resistance from his longtime coach, Javier Mendez, if he does.

For months, Cormier said that he would not fight beyond his 40th birthday, which is taking place in March. The decorated wrestler even repeated that timeline for his retirement, after he won the heavyweight title last July, by taking out Stipe Miocic.

But, since Cormier hasn’t fought since then, and because it’s already the beginning of 2019 and “DC” isn’t booked for a bout, there’s been speculation he might postpone his retirement. Especially since he has an opportunity to fight Brock Lesnar, which would provide a massive payday for Cormier.

Well, recently Cormier’s longtime coach and friend, the aforementioned Mendez, appeared on “The MMA Hour”  and he had this to say about the subject (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“If Dana had his way, there’d be three left. And you know what, Dana has a pretty good way of persuading people,” Mendez said. “I like Dana, so I don’t know — we may see two or three [more fights]. I don’t know, I think so. I think Dana has a way of making things good for DC and making it right, so yeah, possibly. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“For me, I love DC so much, that if DC says tomorrow, ‘Jav, I’m done,’ then I’m going to encourage him to be done. But if he says, ‘Jav, I want to fight again,’ then I’m going to be onboard with him,” Mendez said. “I’m with whatever DC wants. I love that guy so much, he’s such a great team captain and a great individual and a great friend. He’s not endangering his health, so for me, whatever he wants, I’m going to be onboard. So if he tells me tomorrow, ‘I’m done,’ then I’ll tell you he’s done, but if he says, ‘I’m going to fight 10 more fights, Jav,’ let’s fight 10 more fights. This is DC’s train. I’m onboard, and I’m glad to be onboard, and I’ll ride it until he doesn’t want to be onboard.”

There you have it. Now, when you consider Cormier also recently said a timeline for his retirement is no longer set, by all indications 2019 could feature “DC” throwing down more than once.

The big question is who will be next for the former champ-champ? Lesnar? Miocic? Or…Jon Jones?